FRISCO, Texas — Three-time defending champion McNeese was selected the Southland men's basketball preseason favorite, the Conference office announced Tuesday afternoon. The Cowboys collected all first-place votes to claim the top spot with 121 points.
McNeese has won two of the last three Conference regular season titles in addition to their three consecutive tournament titles. They are followed in the poll by SFA in second place, earning 109 points. The Lumberjacks come off a renaissance season in 2025-26 that ended with a Southland regular season title, 22 wins in Conference play (an SLC record) and an NIT appearance.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi slides in at third with 98 points and one first-place vote. Lamar and UTRGV rounded out the top five with 91 and 78 points respectively. LSU New Orleans followed in sixth with 68 points while HCU was voted seventh at 47 points and Northwestern State took eighth at 45 points. Southeastern was tabbed ninth with 38 points and Nicholls rounded out the top 10 with 37 points. UIW and East Texas A&M took the final two spots in the poll.
The Southland Conference preseason poll is voted on by each institution's head coach and sports information director through one ballot. Each institution ranks their predicted order of regular season finish, not including their own team.
| Place |
Team |
Total (First-Place) |
| 1. |
McNeese |
121 (11) |
| 2. |
SFA |
109 |
| 3. |
A&M-Corpus Christi |
98 (1) |
| 4. |
Lamar |
91 |
| 5. |
UTRGV |
78 |
| 6. |
LSU New Orleans |
68 |
| 7. |
HCU |
47 |
| 8. |
Northwestern State |
45 |
| 9. |
Southeastern |
38 |
| 10. |
Nicholls |
37 |
| 11. |
UIW |
36 |
| 12. |
East Texas A&M |
24 |